Anime Crossover: My Cheat Code is Myself

Page 203

"I never imagined that a carefree demon like you would actually get married." Shuten-dōji's tone carried a hint of inexplicable wistfulness.

"Boring," Ibaraki-dōji said, seemingly unimpressed.

He only enjoys socializing and is not interested in delicate women; for him, having close friends is enough.

Only Shuten-dōji, his closest friend, could satisfy him.

Thinking of this, Ibaraki-dōji felt a surge of fighting spirit. After drinking the wine in his bowl, he suddenly stood up, his eyes burning with intense fire.

"Come on! Shuten-dōji, my dearest friend! Now that we've had our drinks, let's begin our duel!"

Ibaraki-dōji is not a demon of Mt. Ōe. He has his own territory and doesn't usually stay on Mt. Ōe.

The reason I'm here is to fight Shuten-dōji.

Ibaraki-dōji is a demon who loves to fight; he's either fighting or on his way to fight every day.

One day, after leveling a hill, his right hand was stained with some kind of blood. The thick, bluish-purple blood covered his right hand and he couldn't wash it off. It also continued to burn his right hand.

The pain from the battle, combined with the burning sensation in his right hand, caused him to faint.

Upon waking, his right hand transformed into a ghostly hand emitting a bluish-purple glow and wreathed in burning flames.

This ghostly hand possesses magical powers, but it constantly tries to break free from his control and even tries to control him in return.

In order to avoid being controlled by the demon hand, Ibaraki-dōji embarks on a journey of constantly challenging stronger opponents to increase his own strength until he can completely control the unknown demon hand.

During this period, he defeated countless opponents and never suffered a defeat.

Until he met Shuten-dōji.

Ibaraki-dōji, who had never experienced defeat, was defeated by Shuten-dōji. From then on, he became obsessed with Shuten-dōji, believing him to be his destined rival, and would go to him every few days to fight.

Later, as they fought, they gradually became close friends, and Shuten-dōji even set rules for Ibaraki-dōji.

Drink first, then fight, but stop when it's over, so as not to hurt feelings.

The reason we're having this banquet today is for Ibaraki-dōji.

Upon hearing Ibaraki's words, Shuten-dōji rolled his eyes.

Although he also enjoys fighting—otherwise he wouldn't have fought his way up Mount Tanba all by himself—he's not like Ibaraki who's obsessed with fighting.

It's a good way to pass the time and have some fun when you're bored.

But someone like Ibaraki who always wants to fight, even if he wins every time, gets annoying after a while. So whenever Ibaraki challenges him to a fight, he first takes Ibaraki out for a drink.

I had managed to keep Ibaraki under control today, but for some reason, he suddenly became agitated again.

Seeing Xia Yan drinking and preparing to watch the show, Shuten-dōji took notice.

You come here to eat and drink for free, and then ask me to do you a favor. It's not fair to ask for nothing in return.

Thinking of this, Shuten-dōji's lips curled up slightly.

"Ibaraki, my dear friend, you must get bored sparring with me all the time. You need to change things up occasionally and face all sorts of strong opponents to grow stronger!"

"If you want to rule over all ghosts and become a ghost king, the most important thing is still your own strength."

"Since Xia Yan wants to form his own Hundred Demons, he must be quite confident in his strength, right..."

"Well said! You truly are my dear friend!"

Upon hearing Shuten-dōji's words, Ibaraki immediately shifted his focus, his gaze burning as he looked intently at Natsuhiko, his surging fighting spirit boiling like a raging fire.

"what???"

Xia Yan pointed to himself in confusion.

I thought there would be some excitement to watch, but I never expected to become part of the excitement myself.

At this moment, the demons of Mount Ooe, who had been drunk, also stood up unsteadily after hearing that a powerful figure was about to fight.

"Croak! I want to see this mouth!!!"

"So exciting! So exciting! It's rare to see a battle between the strongest. Even if I die, it's worth the ticket price!"

"I can't wait! Let me taste it now!"

"..."

"How about it, Ibaraki, my dear friend? Don't lose!"

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting lively, even though he didn't know why the group of demons from Mount Ooe who had just drunk themselves into a stupor were still able to get up and watch the show, Shuten-dōji still fanned the flames from behind in a flippant tone.

"Hmph! Unnecessary worries, of course I will win!"

Ibaraki-dōji, clad in a purple robe fluttering in the wind and wearing gold and red armor, with beast decorations adorning his chest and shoulders, glared menacingly at Natsuhiko.

Blue-purple flames had already ignited on the right-side demon horn, and it still looked ready to pounce.

Chapter 305 The Ghost of Rashomon

"Is it possible that we could have a battle of wits?" Xia Yan asked tentatively, looking at Ibaraki who seemed like a fully drawn bow, ready to pounce.

His answer was Ibaraki's fiery claws.

"Further words are useless. Let me see if you have the strength to become a demon king!"

"Take full experience of my robust strength!"

Four exaggerated claw marks, as if they were about to tear a mountain apart, slashed across Xia Yan's body.

The terrifying power even left a lingering afterimage in the air, making people mistakenly believe that the claw had torn open space itself.

However, this attack, powerful enough to split mountains and shatter the earth, simply passed straight through Xia Yan's body.

Her clothes and long hair, whipped up by the gale, danced like ripples on the water's surface after a pebble has been thrown into it.

"Ugh, this is really troublesome~" Xia Yan sighed softly and stood up from the ground.

But Ibaraki-dōji had already closed in on them.

"Drink up, ahhhhhh—"

A triumphant battle cry pierced the night sky.

Unlike the previous exaggerated attack that nearly tore space apart.

05 Ibaraki-doji's attack after getting close to Natsuhiko was quite simple.

Using his right hand as a weapon, he attacked Xia Yan's torso and head from bottom to top.

On the ghostly hand, radiating a bluish-purple glow, scorching flames burned fiercely, distorting the air under the terrifying heat, making it impossible to accurately judge the trajectory of the attack.

However, its power should not be underestimated.

This is more than twice as powerful as the simple slap that was just a greeting!

Even now, Xia Yan doesn't want to take that attack with his body without any regard for the consequences, just like before.

However, because the attack was too condensed, the range of damage was naturally not as wide as before, which almost encompassed the entire space where Xia Yan was located.

Therefore, it is easy to avoid.

If Ibaraki's offensive was like a rhinoceros charging into battle, then Natsuhiko was like an antelope with its horns hanging down.

With a light touch of her toes, she leaped backward with an unpredictable and graceful movement.

With a roguish smile on his lips, he watched as Ibaraki's flaming demon claws swept past him.

Although Ibaraki-dōji's movements are bold and emphasize using brute force to overcome skill, as a battle-hardened demon, his own combat skills are naturally quite remarkable.

Moreover, being a fellow great demon, he naturally never imagined he could defeat his enemy in one move.

While Xia Yan was focused on his exaggeratedly shaped right hand, his left hand, like a venomous snake spitting its tongue, silently reached for Xia Yan's face.

As his bulging muscles flared up, an incomparably violent purple-black ghost flame erupted from behind him.

It amplified his speed even further, like a rocket booster.

In contrast to his boisterous demeanor, he immediately resorted to this highly deceptive and underhanded tactic.

However, under Xia Yan's disdainful gaze, this tactic was naturally useless. In fact, he had already predicted the opponent's attack route before launching the attack.

Therefore, he simply turned slightly to the side and dodged it, looking very relaxed and at ease.

"Tch, did you dodge it?" Ibaraki-dōji said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Oh no! That was dangerous! I thought you'd use a simpler fighting style..."

"No matter who my opponent is, I will give it my all!"

"No, I think you could go easy on me if you went a little easier..."

Xia Yan's lips twitched slightly.

He was neither a naturally warlike demon nor a battle maniac.

Unlike Ibaraki-dōji, who treated the battle itself as an enjoyable and entertaining activity, he saw this kind of meaningless battle, which yielded no real gains, as completely unnecessary.

Even if he wins, he won't get anything.

Of course, he wouldn't lose if a fight really broke out!

Ibaraki's attacks continued, but in Xia Yan's eyes, each attack seemed to be in slow motion, with both the trajectory and the landing point clearly visible.

Therefore, the fight between the two looked as if it had been rehearsed beforehand, with Xia Yan dodging each time at just the right distance.

"Is this any good, Ibaraki?! You didn't even manage to touch him once. How pathetic. Maybe we should just give up and continue drinking."

Shuten-dōji, always eager for excitement, never missed an opportunity to stir up trouble.

"It's so noisy! I haven't even gotten serious yet!"

Ibaraki retorted without hesitation, then looked at Xia Yan with a displeased expression: "You, all you can do is slippery hide-and-seek!"

"There's nothing I can do about it, because I'm a nihilistic devil~"

"...Damn it! I'll smash you to pieces in an instant! Haaaaaah—"

Ibaraki-dōji roared in anger, his white hair flying like flames, and his violent demonic power instantly surged to his blue-purple right hand.

Like pouring gasoline into a fire, the flames that were originally wrapped around his right hand burned even more fiercely, and even half of his body faintly emitted a bluish-purple flame.

"Ughh ...